The condition where a group of people sharing a living space each avoid doing a household chore for an extended period because each believes it's someone else's responsibility. The idea is that eventually the situation will reach a critical mass where the guilty party will cave in and do the chore. In practice, the situation can escalate to extreme levels.

"I'm not going to do the dishes. It's your turn." "Yeah, but 90% of them are from the dinner you made for your girlfriend. I'm not cleaning up your mess." "I'm not playing roommate chicken with you on this. Clean it up!" "I'll die before I clean your mess." "Fuck you!" "Fuck you!"